Wear your best clothes or the cheeriest colour
from your wardrobe. You’d be surprise how much your clothes could affect
the way you feel about yourself.

Early start - Bad things happen when you are late,
the tension level is high, you are in a rush, you don’t have time for
breakfast, when you arrive at your office, people are shoving work into
your face. It may seem like a punishment to wake up earlier on Monday
but trust me, when you have enough time to organize yourself, you’ll
feel like you can conquer the day easier.

Treat yourself in the morning – Sit down and eat.
Enjoy your food. Monday is Pancake Breakfast day for me, so I actually
look forward to Monday mornings. But eat well- although it’s ok to treat yourself, make sure you eat well. I have a good serving of fruits along with my pancakes. Have enough to drink too- Your malaise could be a sign of dehydration.

Have a list of why you’re having the blues – You
might be surprised that there will be things on the list that you can
easily work on to make your Mondays better. My problem used to be a
completing work from last week (very difficult to gain momentum after a
weekend break) which brings us to the next point:

Complete as much work possible on Friday – You’ll have less work to worry about on Monday, which lead to the next point:

Have everything laid out the day before – Your
clothes, files, etc. Saves you a couple of minutes in the morning so
that you can concentrate on other, more important things.

Plan your dayin small gentle steps. Apply micromovements throughout the day. You can use a GTD system or simply divide your day into of 1/2 – 1 hour chunks with a goal for each time unit.

Talk to a friend – It’s most likely he/she is
having the blues too. Keep your conversation short. Remember this is
about taking comfort in the fact that you aren’t alone in this, not an
hour-long bitchfest about XXX from marketing.

Dance- Just move that body! Jog in place, stretch, do yoga. You’ll feel less lethargic.

Laughand smile. Recall happy memories or a good joke. If you can’t think of any, do it anyway (fake it till you make it)Some
research is saying that even the thought of laughing raises your
endorphin (feel-good hormones) levels and a fake laughter provides
similar benefits to a real one.

Affirmative statements– Today is a great day. I will complete my report today. Stick positive messages around your monitor and take them seriously.

Choose to feel happy. If you don’t already know, being happy is a choice, so choose happiness!

Buy something newfor Monday – It doesn’t have to
be big or expensive – a pen, a sketchbook, fancy post-it stickers.
Monday is like a birthday for me- I get a present for myself nearly
every week. I got myself a sticker for $1 today.

Try something new - You’d be surprise how easy it
is to feel energized by doing something you’ve never done before. A new
dish, a new song, a new route to work.

Start working. The thing about work is, it’s usually not the work that makes us tired, it’s the thought of starting work that makes us procrastinate and go into a cycle of unproductivity. Quit thinking about starting work and just work instead!

Take short breaks – Too much work can be
overwhelming and when this happens, it is easy for you to give up.
Remember to take short breaks to recharge. If your schedule allows it,
you can also take a 10 minute nap after lunch.

Plan something special for Monday night– Meet a friend for dinner, rent a DVD. The day will be easier when you have something to look forward to.

Do not get distracted. Youtube, Facebook, personal
emails. Once you allow yourself to get distracted you will be sucked
into hours of time-wasting activities. If you don’t have the discipline
to limit your distraction to 10 minutes, don’t attempt to do it at all.
Reading blogs like this is another time-sucker so now that you’ve reach
the bottom of the list, why don’t you get working! :)

psss: Honestly, I am not that kind of very-positive-treat-things-as-a-challenge-not-as-a-problem person, haha of course not. But hey, we are always free to choose how to start our day right? And I always choose to smile. (Even it always turn out to be muka-sememeh-lima-kupang).